Wow Wow Wow what a great day of rugby in the Six Nations. This is what sport should be about and why we all love it so much.
The French rugby team imploded in Edinburgh this afternoon after being smashed by the underrated Scottish team. There was no way the French came to Edinburgh expecting to be hammered as next week the French Rugby Union was releasing a special 120 year old jersey celebrating French rugby. The idea would be to have a celebratory day whilst hosting England and winning the Grand Slam in the process which in French is known as the Grand Chelem. The Grand Slam is when a team wins all their matches and remains unbeaten though the Six Nations.
This afternoons score line of 50 - 40 does not tell the true story as the French scored 21 points in the last 5 minutes. The match was a try festival and a spectacular advert for modern rugby. No one could predict 90 points being scored in 80 minutes and seeing the Scots front up to the more favored French like they did.
The problem with any sport if you look too far ahead you run the risk of having your plans unravel. The French will now have egg on their face as they counted their chickens before they hatched expecting to win the Grand Slam defeating England in Paris next week. Winning the Six Nations is still in the French hands, but the Grand Slam would have been their ultimate goal.
Now it all bubbles down to next weekends fixtures with the teams in 2nd and 3rd being Scotland and Ireland still having a mathematical chance of winning the title depending what happens in Paris between France and England. If the French win their game then they win the title, but if they lose then the title will go to the winner of Ireland vs Scotland. The French are still favorites to put England to the sword so it should be a great occasion for French supporters.
The other big story of the day is that Italy beat England for the first time in 35 years after 33 attempts with two of those matches being to nil. Today a 23-18 score line proves the Italians have upped their game which has left England rugby in absolute chaos. Many fancied the Italians this afternoon including myself and they were deserved winners.
The English management will not be there after next week as changes are going to happen as losing to Scotland was bad enough, then Ireland and now the Italians is something that you cannot come back from. The Italians tactics were to stay in the fight and take it deep and this tactic played out perfectly hitting the lead in the 71st minute which left the England team on their knees.
What the Italians have done in a country that rugby is not regarded as a major sport is quite incredible and the popularity will only keep on growing. Having beaten Scotland and now England with strugglers Wales to come next week could see them finish as high as 3rd or 4th which is their best finish ever whatever happens next week as long as they beat Wales which is looking highly likely.
The Six Nations was turned on it's head today which is good news for rugby as the sides are on their day capable of beating each other. The two horse race is no longer and the tables have been turned with France and England licking their wounds. Just think if Scotland had not lost to Italy in the first match they would be Six Nations champions tonight and how things could have been so different.